LiveChat Review

LiveChat is a very good option for support teams wanting to open another communication channel with their customers.

Last updated: January 2021


PROS

  • Great team-based features
  • Good help center

CONS

  • Limits to tracked customers

User Experience

LiveChat will provide your customers with a decent user experience. I'd say it is better suited towards providing live chat in a support (rather than sales or lead generation) context. Stripe, for example, use LiveChat for customer support.

One thing which is a potential annoyance for website visitors is how LiveChat captures emails. In LiveChat you can set up a pre-chat form so that the visitor has to fill in their details before the chat has started. Other live chat providers like intercom and crisp incorporate email capture more naturally into the flow of the conversation.

The user experience for chatting with a customer is good, with a well-laid out interface and useful contextual information. LiveChat also provides apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS so you and your co-workers are well-covered for options for the desktop and on the move.

Pricing

LiveChat has 4 pricing tiers. Within each tier you pay a monthly (or discounted yearly) amount per 'seat'. A seat is filled by each simultaneously logged-in user ("agent"). This means that if you have a support team of 5 people, for example, and if only 3 people ever work a shift at the same time, then you only require 3 seats. Depending on your setup, this can be a money-saver.

Features

Style Chat Widget

Select from different themes, colours, how the minimized chat window looks like and the chat widget position. Different settings can be applied to mobile and desktop. You can add your company logo (requires the Team plan or above). Show Screenshot

Remove Branding Upgrade

The LiveChat branding can be removed. This requires an upgrade to at least the Team plan.

Office Hours
Teams Upgrade

You can create groups for different departments, such as sales and support. The Groups feature requires the Team plan or above. Show Screenshot

Routing

Chats are routed automatically via round robin rule. An exception to this is where a chat is from a returning visitor, in which case it will be routed to the agent who the visitor previously chatted with. You can also set up URL rules in order to route chats initiated on specific pages to a specific group (e.g. sales). Show Screenshot

Saved Replies

LiveChat has a feature called "Canned Responses" to save you time typing out the same answer over and over again. These saved replies can be accessed via a hash (#) symbol followed by the name assigned to that reply. Show Screenshot

Block Users

Visitors can banned during a chat: the agent can select for how many days should be banned. It's also possible to ban them from the chat archives. Furthermore, in the security section individual IP addresses can be blocked. Show Screenshot

Hide Chat Widget

Control when to display the chat widget icon on your website. It can be hidden until activated by a greeting, a custom start chat button, or an open chat window API method.

Trigger Chats Upgrade

You can initiate chats with your visitors by using the Greetings feature. You can trigger chats based on conditions which you set, such as the physical location of the visitor or the visitor having spent a specific amount of time on a web page. The Starter plan is limited to 1 greeting only. Show Screenshot

Tagging Upgrade

Admins can create tags and agents can then apply these to chats and tickets. You can filter by tag to find all chats or tickets from a particular category. As tagging is something which agents often forget to do, you can automatically remind them to tag their completed chats. You need at least the Team plan for tagging. Show Screenshot

Reports

Their are four types of reports: total chats, chat ratings, chat duration and availability. You can filter reports by time period and tags.

Chatbot

LiveChat provide a chatbot app.

Email Inbox

You get a unique incoming email address (in the form 1234@tickets.livechatinc.com). You can set emails to forward to this address if your customers contact you via a support email address (e.g. help@yourdomain.com). When an email is forwarded to LiveChat, a ticket will be created for that email address.

Custom Email Address
Track User Data

The Customers section shows you a real-time list of visitors to your website alongside attributes such as location, device information, previous visits, URL and so on. There are limitations to the number of visitors you can track simultaneously, depending on which plan you are on. For example, the Starter plan lets you track up to 100 visitors. Show Screenshot

Campaigns
GDPR-compliant

LiveChat has a pre-chat survey feature which gives you the ability to ask for data protection consent before a chat. They are also self-certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield and the Swiss-US Privacy Shield.

Internationalization

LiveChat has been translated into 45 languages. If you have the Team plan or above you can also add your own bespoke translations and allow visitors to select their own language at the beginning of a chat.

Offers App

Has apps for both iOS and Android so you can reply to visitors and users, add notes and assign conversations whilst on the move. LiveChat also offers desktop apps for Windows and Mac.

Knowledge Base Upgrade

LiveChat provide a separate knowledge base which can be integrated with the chat app to surface help articles during conversations. It cost $39 per month.

API

LiveChat has an API with which you can write and publish apps for LiveChat users.

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Matt

Review by Matt

Matt is a product manager with extensive experience in building and supporting software-as-a-service products. This includes implementing live chat for customer support and customer success teams.

Our work is supported by affiliate links.


Review Updates

  • Jan 25, 2019 Review published
  • Jan 07, 2021 Pricing updated